The Nigerian military on Tuesday confirmed the take-over of Baga in Borno State by members of the Boko Haram Terrorist group.
After an emergency security meeting today in Abuja, the Chief of
Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, told reporters that Niger
and Chad had withdrawn their troops from Baga, a situation that
apparently led to the takeover of the town that had been in contention.
The meeting was held to assess the security situation in the country especially in the north-east.
The Air Chief, however, said that the countries had not pulled out of
the multinational Joint Task Force contingent fighting the terrorist
group in the North-East.
He assured Nigerians that the military would overcome the insurgents at all cost.
“I wish it could be closed. But how do you close such a large border?
And it is not for military to close border anyway,” he said, emphasising
that more collaboration with the security agencies of the border
nations should be explored rather than border closure.
Also
addressing reporters after the security meeting, the Borno State
Governor, Kashim Shetima, said that the 2015 general elections must hold
in the north eastern part of Nigeria despite the security threats on
the people.
He said that elections have taken place in countries
like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and so many other places where there is
terrorism but that the important issue is how to safeguard the lives and
property of the people of those areas and recover the lost territories
and the abducted Chibok girls.
He cried out that several
territories like Bama, were now under the territory of the Boko Haram
but that with a robust plan by the military the war against insurgency
would be worn.
At the risk of giving publicity to the Boko Haram
leader, Shekau, who he described as a lunatic, the Borno State Governor
said that the military has been rising to the challenges.
The
terrorist group had in April abducted some over 200 schoolgirls from a
Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.
They
are still in the custody of the Boko haram sect, but Governor Shetima
stressed that no matter what the odds were the Chibok girls would be
returned.
He had last year decried the poor motivation of the
Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram, insisting that the
military lacked what was required to fight the Boko Haram sect.
Also addressing reporters, Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State, which
is another state in the eye of the storm, called for deployment of more
troops.
The meeting, which had the participants brainstorm for
over two hours, was said to be a fruitful one, with a rich
cross-pollination of ideas many Nigerians hope will indeed bring a
lasting solution to insurgency bedevilling the nation.
Those also
in attendance at the meeting were the Attorney-General of the
Federation, as well as governors of Adamawa, Yobe and Kaduna states.
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